Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur garments hub is busy producing masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) to help India fight COVID-19. Permission has been granted to around hundred factories in the city to make these accessories. Challenges are of course there in procuring fabric, thread and other materials with disrupted raw material supply chains.
Tiruppur has reportedly received orders for a million PPE pieces. Factory owners hope that it may take about a year for the industry to revive after the pandemic gets over and therefore, masks and PPE could be a lifesaver for the industry that employs around 12 lakhs.Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur garments hub is busy producing masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) to help India fight COVID-19. Permission has been granted to around hundred factories in the city to make these accessories. Challenges are of course there in procuring fabric, thread and other materials with disrupted raw material supply chains.#
The internationally-approved material for PPE kits is called SSMMS, a five-layered non-woven fabric, but that is in short supply. So these units are manufacturing kits out of other non-woven materials, which can be used by those not in the first line of duty.
Medical and industrial textiles could be a game-changer for Tiruppur, said TR Vijay Kumar, general secretary of Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA). TEA president Raja M Shanmugham said only those companies that have hostels for workers and are better equipped to adhere to safety measures have received permission to produce these items.
Garment units in other cities like Haryana’s Gurugram have also started producing masks and PPE. Media reports say about three dozen garment companies have followed the textile ministry’s call to start producing certain types of PPE and help meet the mounting domestic demand.
Most of these products will be supplied to HLL Lifecare, the government’s nodal agency for procuring PPE. The body suits being manufactured by the Indian garment firms are around 40-50 per cent cheaper than the ones imported from China, some of the companies claim.
The Melange Polymers Pvt Ltd factory in Tiruppur manufactures 50,000 masks every day using 2,000 machines and 200 workers, trebling its production by working seven days a week. It also manufactures 10,000 pieces of PPE recommended by the World Health Organisation daily.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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